Three of the five jailed men: Chubramanian Vignarajah, Amarjit Mudhar and Kamalanesan Kandiah. Photograph: PA/Home Office

Five members of a criminal gang who smuggled Sri Lankans into the UK through Channel ports have been jailed.

The men, four Sri Lankans and one British national, helped illegal immigrants attempting to reach the UK by smuggling them in vehicles and charging them £4,500 each for the service, according to the Home Office.

Many of the smuggling attempts were foiled by Border Force officers who discovered stowaways hiding in vehicles stopped at ports including Calais, Dunkirk, Coquelles and Dover.

Of those who reached the UK, some would travel to North America using falsified documents, the Home Office spokesman said.

He added that investigations were ongoing to find those who had entered the UK illegally.

The gang's ringleader, 37-year-old Sudharsan Jeyakodi from Luton, pleaded guilty in August last year to conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and was jailed for five years and four months at Maidstone Crown Court.

Chubramanian Vignarajah, 42,from Croydon, also pleaded guilty last year to the same offence and was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment. years

Kamalanesan Kandiah, 39, from Hayes, London, John Anes Soundaranayagam Uvais, 41, of East Ham, London, and British national Amarjit Mudhar, 46, of Northolt, London, were found guilty of the same charge on 17 January following an eight-week trial.

Kandiah and Uvais were jailed for five years each while Mudhar was sentenced to four years and eight months, the spokesman said.

The gang was caught following a Home Office-led investigation, supported by Kent police, the National Crime Agency (NCA), Europol and French, German and Swiss law enforcement agencies.